Following on from May 2016’s report that recommended the adoption of a comprehensive set of rules to dictate how humans interact with artificial intelligences and robots. Poised on the cusp of a “new industrial” revolution, this voting could be a landmark moment.
The vote will decide whether robots will be considered as “electronic persons” in legal terms, carrying a certain set of rights along with that. The issue of a kill switch will also be discussed. The report recommends that designers unsure robots have a switch that allows their functions to be shut down if deemed necessary.
This vote is primarily concerned with safety, to ensure that users can use robots “without his or fear of physical or psychological harm”, as the report recommends, but there are other issues involved, such as privacy, employment, education, even human dignity as is the case with care robots.
As it is acknowledged in the report that within a few decades AI could surpass human intellectual capacity, making rulings such as this early on are beneficial, especially with concerns over potential loss of human jobs in the wake of a “new industrial revolution”.
If MEPs vote in favour of the legislation, it will then go to individual governments for further debate and amendments before it becomes EU law.
For the Robotics Law Journal summary of the report, click here, and for the full EU report, click here.
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